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Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the provision of certain services to veterans in the Freely Associated States, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide telehealth and mail order pharmacy benefits to veterans in the Freely Associated States within one year of enactment. It would also make mandatory the department's provision of beneficiary travel payments to these veterans, beginning within one year. The bill requires the Veterans Affairs Secretary to submit quarterly reports to Congress on the implementation status and costs of these new provisions. Additionally, the bill extends a deadline for certain pension payment limits from January 31, 2033 to March 31, 2033.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS] (R-KS)
9 cosponsors
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT)
- Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI)
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID] (R-ID)
- Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (D-HI)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS)
Actions (8)
- Dec 18, 2025 Held at the desk. · house
- Dec 18, 2025 Received in the House. · house
- Dec 18, 2025 Message on Senate action sent to the House. · senate
- Dec 17, 2025 Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8874; text: CR S8874) · senate
- Dec 17, 2025 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Dec 17, 2025 Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs discharged by Unanimous Consent. · senate
- Dec 11, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Dec 11, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 11, 2025
Mr. Moran (for himself, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Wicker, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Risch, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Heinrich, and Mrs. Shaheen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the provision of certain services to veterans in the Freely Associated States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act”.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE CERTAIN SERVICES TO VETERANS IN THE FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES.
(a) Telehealth and Mail Order Pharmacy Benefits.—Section 1724(f)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act, the Secretary shall furnish to veterans described in subparagraph (A), subject to agreements described in such subparagraph, telehealth benefits and mail order pharmacy benefits.”.
(b) Beneficiary Travel.—Section 111(h)(1) of such title is amended by striking “the Secretary may make payments” and inserting “beginning not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act, the Secretary shall make payments”.
(c) Quarterly Report.—
(1) In general.—Not less frequently than quarterly, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the status of implementation of the amendments made by this section and the cost of such implementation.
(2) Appropriate committees of congress defined.—In this subsection, the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means—
(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN LIMITS ON PAYMENTS OF PENSION.
Section 5503(d)(7) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking “January 31, 2033” and inserting “March 31, 2033”. <all>
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